Status
Active
Start
2013

The Interamerican Peer-Review Mechanism on Effective Public Management (MECIGEP) is a formal, permanent, voluntary peer-dialogue mechanism open to all OAS member States.

The MECIGEP facilitates horizontal collaboration between OAS member States facing similar governance and public management challenges in areas such as open government, strategic planning, public budget, civil service, coordination mechanisms, evaluation of policies and programs, digital transformation, decentralization, quality of public services, behavioral sciences applied to public policies, among others. It is based on peer-reviews rounds of technical dialogue between ad-hoc small groups of 3-4 countries, where an OAS member-State presents implementation challenges regarding of a concrete public policy, program, project or initiative about to be launched with the purpose to receive inputs and practical and "down-to-earth" recommendations from another OAS member-States that had delt with the similar challenges in the past and had implemented a successful solution.    

MECIGEP process has a strictly technical approach. High-level officials from OAS member countries collaborate, on a voluntary basis, in a review process of specific experiences carried out by other OAS member countries. It uses analytical frameworks agreed upon by the participants that allow the identification of positive elements that all public management must consider in achieving effectiveness. Thus, for example, having a long-term, empirical-based, co-designed, user-centered, behaviorally informed, complexity-aware and fiscally responsible approach to public policy.

The MECIGEP is inspired and informed by similar peer-reviewing regional mechanisms in Europe (OECD), Africa (Organization of African Unity) and MENA countries; as well as the many peer-to-peer dialogue processes of the United Nations SystemHowever, unlike other similar mechanisms carried out by the GS/OAS (for example, MESICIC, MESECVI, Working Group of the Protocol of San Salvador), the MECIGEP does not monitor the implementation of any regional legal instrument (agreement, convention, protocol). The Mechanism offers its recommendations considering specific problems, challenges, capacities, and interests of each beneficiary country. The acceptance of these recommendations does not oblige the beneficiary country before the other member countries or before the GS/OAS. However, the beneficiary country may, at its discretion, request the MECIGEP Technical Secretariat to carry out this follow-up for informational purposes only.

Objectives
  • Enhance horizontal peer-to-peer dialogue and collaboration among OAS member-countries on policy realm.
  • Advance evidence-based, user-centered, and behavioral-informed policy innovation in the region.
  • Contribute to improve the policy effectiveness (efficacy, efficiency, and equality) and reduce distrust in governments in the Americas.
  • Help to identify cooperation needs regarding common policy reform and innovation challenges. 
  • Promote and make visible the horizontal and multilateral cooperation among member countries, attracting offers from international donors.
  • Support the development and definition of analytical frameworks, implementation toolkits, and case studies focused on Latin-America.  
  • Reduce costs during policy design phase due to the dismissal of private sector consultants.
  • Reduce costs during policy implementation phase via early consideration of challenges, biases, risks and failures in similar experiences.

Activities
A MECIGEP round includes the following cycle of activities:  

Step 1: Formal request:  A public sector organization in an OAS member-State present a formal request to receive support from MECIGEP in solving a specific public management challenge. The formal request can be sent to [email protected].      

Step 2: Self-Assessment Questionnaire: the beneficiary organization is invited to fill out a self-assessment questionnaire prepared by MECIGEP Technical Secretariat. The main purpose of the questionnaire is to better define the specificities (i.e., sector, initiative, scope of work, timeline, focal points, relevant experiences carried out in other OAS member-States) of technical cooperation required, so MECIGEP Technical Secretariat can design a response that fits the requester specific needs.

Step 3: Baseline Document:  a 2-3 pager short concept paper that guide the dialogue among the government and relevant social actors around the policy challenge at hand.      
Step 4: On-Site Visit: a group of MECIGEP experts makes a 4–5-day visit to the beneficiary country in order to conduct interviews with political authorities, government officials, the donor community and other stakeholders involved, interested or affected by the initiative. 

Step 5: MECIGEP Report and Immediate Action Plan: once the process is completed, the MECIGEP Technical Secretariat will prepare a report of finding and recommendations found in the peer dialogue process. MECIGEP Reports points country-specific findings, recommendations, and potential funding sources to guide the design and implementation of a concrete policy initiative. MECIGEP Report can be used as reference, guideline or playbook for OAS member countries interested in attracting international cooperation from other donors.

MECIGEP Forum: Every 2-3 years, the DEPM organize a regular meeting with all OAS member States participating in the MECIGEP rounds with the purpose to disseminate the experiences analyzed and (re)validate its general guidelines.

More Results
Results
10 MECIGEP reports with country-level recommendations on effective public management
25 member States engaged in the peer-review mechanism on effective public management MECIGEP
Beneficiary Countries
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Argentina
Barbados
Barbados
Belize
Belize
Bolivia
Bolivia
Brazil
Brazil
Canada
Canada
Chile
Chile
Colombia
Colombia
Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Dominica
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Ecuador
El Salvador
El Salvador
Grenada
Grenada
Guatemala
Guatemala
Guyana
Guyana
Haiti
Haiti
Honduras
Honduras
Jamaica
Jamaica
Mexico
Mexico
Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Panama
Panama
Paraguay
Paraguay
Peru
Peru
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Suriname
The Bahamas
The Bahamas
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
United States of America
United States of America
Uruguay
Uruguay
Venezuela
Venezuela
More Publications
Publications
Cover in magenta, title in English
January, 2014
MECIGEP Thematic Report 2: Public Policy Observatories in the Americas
Cover of the report, map of the Americas, title, OAS logo, 5 small pictures
December, 2012
MECIGEP Thematic Report 1: Innovative Experiences in Effective Public Management and Regional Cooperation Strategies
This report is available in Spanish only
Cover with OAS logo and title.
December, 2016
MECIGEP Thematic Report 3: Promoting Integrity of Public Servants in their Relationship with Citizens
This report is available in Spanish only
Cover, OAS logo, Brazil flag, Canada logo as donor, title of the report, 2014
February, 2023
MECIGEP Report on Brazil: Selecting better public servants by Integrated Personnel Management Systems
Report of the Inter-American Cooperation Mechanism for Effective Public Management (MECIGEP)
OAS logo, flag of Dominican Republic, title of report, logo of Canada as donor
December, 2014
MECIGEP Report on the Dominican Republic: Public Services Management Conceptual Model
OAS logo, flag of Paraguay, title of report, logo of Canada as donor
December, 2014
MECIGEP Report on Paraguay: Collective Labor Relations and Salary Policies
December, 2015
MECIGEP Report on Peru: Policies on Transparency Portals and Open Data
This report is available in Spanish only
OAS logo, flag of Costa Rica, title of report, logo of Canada as donor
March, 2023
MECIGEP Report on Costa Rica: Diseño de un modelo de Empleo Público Integral en el Estado Costarricense
This report is available in Spanish only
Cover, OAS logo, Canadian flag as donor, title of the publication.
December, 2015
MECIGEP Report on Saint Lucia: Open Government and Open Data Initiatives
This report is available in English only
OAS logo, flag of Mexico, title of report
December, 2016
MECIGEP Report on Mexico: Integrity of Public Servants in the Performance of their Duties
This report is available in Spanish only
OAS logo, flag of Colombia, title of report
December, 2017
MECIGEP Report on Colombia: Integrated planning and management model for the public sector in Colombia
This report is available in Spanish only
OAS logo, flag of Honduras, title of report
December, 2019
MECIGEP Report on Honduras: Incidence Unit for MCC BSC indicators improvement
This report is available in Spanish only
More Events
Events
Team
Silverio Zebral Filho
Head, MECIGEP Technical Secretariat [[email protected]]
Strategic Partners
Resources
AG/RES. 5450/14: Assistance to Member States: Effective Public Management Strengthening and Innovation Initiative in the Americas [MECIGEP Mandate]
MECIGEP Reference Document [February 2014]
OAS First High-Level Meeting of Public Management Authorities [Summary Report on March 14, 2014]